Photography Pioneers

"The Flatiron" Edward Steichen (1904)

I love photography, especially early examples. Is there anything more beautiful than a gelatin silver print? So a few weeks ago I headed to the Met to view the exhibit “Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand.” Featuring 115 images from the Met’s collection, the exhibit proved why these three were pioneers in the field of American photography at the turn of the century.

Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, and Paul Strand helped to further the cause of American photography, creating new camera techniques and elevating photography to an art form. Stieglitz, considered the father of modern photography, founded the influential journal Camera Work in 1903 and both Steichen and Strand’s works were featured heavily in its pages.

 "Georgia O'Keefe—Hands" Alfred Stieglitz (1917)

Of the three, I was most familiar with Stieglitz. I had just seen many of his New York photos a few months before so was keen to see examples of another of his favourite subjects—his wife Georgia O’Keefe. Stieglitz liked to photographer her, a lot (he made more than 300 portraits). Many of the photos are of her parts—face, breasts, feet. He especially liked to photograph her hands, which were, upon inspection, quite beautiful.

 "Blind" Paul Strand (1916)

The work of two of Stieglitz’ protégées round out the exhibit. Strand wanted to capture the movement of the city (he would later go on to work in documentary film) and everyday people. He would often attach a trick lens to his camera in order to get his shots without the subjects looking at the camera. His work exemplifies early street photography, and its immediacy gives many of his photos a modern look.

 "Untitled" Edward Steichen (1904). This woman could be a sitter for John Singer Sargent.

But it was Edward Steichen whose work I enjoyed the most. Steichen had partnered with Stieglitz to open the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession (later known as 291), which brought European artists’ work to the attention of Americans. Steichen, who had started out painting, applied his painter’s eye to the lens and many of his photographs have a dream-like quality to them. Probably his most famous photo in the exhibit is of the iconic Flatiron building. Many have photographed the building, including Stieglitz, but Steichen’s photo stands out. Appearing at first to be a painting, the blurriness of the light and silhouetted figure adds a romantic air to the photo (and brings to mind the setting for a Victorian mystery).

The exhibit is only at the Met for a few more days (until April 10). If you can’t make it, there is a wonderful exhibition catalogue that contains reproductions of many of the photographs.

Seaport Surprise

The Peking, a 1911 barque at the South Street Seaport.

The South Street Seaport is a place in the city that I normally do not visit. Like Times Square, it’s where tourists go and therefore an area to be generally avoided. But a recent visit proved to be a pleasant surprise. For amid the chain stores and crowds is the South Street Seaport Museum, a small museum that puts on great exhibits, is home to a fleet of old ships, and has the coolest museum gift shop in the city—Bowne & Co., Stationers.

My visit was specifically to see the two current exhibits on display—“Alfred Stieglitz New York” and “DecoDence: Legendary Interiors and Illustrious Travelers Aboard the SS Normandie.” They were both worth the trip.

"Winter on Fifth Avenue" Alfred Stieglitz (1893)

The Stieglitz exhibit concentrates on images of New York that the artist made over a 40-year time span. His early photos from the turn of the century are simply amazing. The snow covered streets and horse drawn carriages seem to appear out of the mist and his nighttime shots have a dreamlike quality about them that our digital cameras cannot replicate. These photos are juxtaposed with images he took in the 1930s filled with gleaming skyscrapers and water towers, modern and bright. Together they show the growth of both a city and an artist.

The first class dining room on the SS Normandie.

DecoDence gives visitors a tiny glance into the glamour that was the SS Normandie. The idea of modern day cruise ships makes me shudder but I think I would have enjoyed sailing in the art deco splendor that was the Normandie. From her maiden voyage in 1935, the Normandie was arguably the most beautiful of the famed ocean liners that carried countless celebrities and others between Europe and America before the outbreak of World War II ended her voyages.

The exhibit includes items that would have been found on board, like the tiny Lalique designed bottles filled with a Jean Patou fragrance created just for the Normandie passengers as well as souvenirs that could be purchased like a handbag shaped like the ship (one of my favourites). There are also mini recreations of some of the rooms with furniture from the ship including a table and chairs from the famed mirrored-lined, first class dining room, which was said to be longer than the hall of mirrors at Versailles.

 Inside Bowne & Co., Stationers.

Across the street is the museum’s gift shop— Bowne & Co., Stationers, which resembles a print shop from the 1870s. In addition to selling an assortment of paper goods and general ephemera, the shop acts as a real letterpress, creating customized cards and stationary with the text set by hand. I could have bought everything in the shop, including the adorable tiny jars of ink that I have no need for but they were so pretty. I settled for some postcards.

The Stieglitz exhibit runs through January 10; the DecoDence exhibit through January 31. A ticket to the museum also allows you to visit the ships across the way (something I may do at another time).

Hipstamatic photos by Michele.